To understand the China ‘One-Belt / ‘One-World’ economic trade forum it becomes necessary to understand how structurally weak the Chinese economy was created.

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People often talk about the ‘strength’ of China’s economic model; and indeed within a specific part of their economy -manufacturing- they do have economic strength. However, the underlying critical architecture of the Chinese economic model is structurally flawed and President Trump with his current economic team understand the weakness better than all international adversaries.

Lets take a stroll and lightly discuss.

China is a central planning economy. Meaning it never was an outcropping of natural economic conditions. China was/is controlled as a communist style central-planning government; As such, it is important to reference the basic structural reality that China’s economy was created from the top down.

This construct of government creation is a key big picture distinction that sets the backdrop to understand how weak the economy really is.

Any nations’ economic model is only as stable (or strong) as the underlying architecture or infrastructure of the actual country.

Think about economic strength and stability this way: If a nation was economically walled off from all other nations, can it survive? …can it sustain itself?

In the big picture – economic strength is an outcome of the ability of a nation, any nation, to support itself first and foremost. If a nations’ economy is dependent on other nations’ for it to inherently survive it is less strong than a nation whose economy is more independent.

You might not realize it, but China is an extremely dependent nation.

When the central planning for the 21st century Chinese Economy was constructed, there were several critical cultural flaws, dynamics exclusive to China, that needed to be overcome in order to build their economic model. It took China several decades to map out a way to economic growth that could overcome the inherent critical flaws.

Critical Flaws To Exploit:

♦Because of the oppressive nature of the Chinese compliant culture, the citizens within China do not innovate or create. The “Compliance Mindset” is part of the intellectual DNA strain of a Chinese citizen.

Broadly speaking, the modern era Chinese are not able to think outside the box per se’ because the reference of all civil activity has been a history of box control by government, and compliance to stay (think) only within the approved box. The lack of intellectual thought mapping needed for innovation is why China relies on intellectual theft of innovation created by others.

American culture specifically is based around freedom of thought and severe disdain of government telling us what to do; THAT freedom is necessary for innovation. That freedom actually creates innovation.

Again, broadly speaking Chinese are better students in American schools and universities because the Chinese are culturally compliant. They work well with academics and established formulas, and within established systems, but they cannot create the formula or system themselves.

♦ The Chinese Planning Authority skipped the economic cornerstone. When China planned out their economic entry, they did so from a top-down perspective. They immediately wanted to be manufacturers of stuff. They saw their worker population as a strategic advantage, but they never put the source origination infrastructure into place in order to supply their manufacturing needs. China has no infrastructure for raw material extraction or exploitation.

China relies on: importing raw material, applying their economic skillset (manufacturing), and then exporting finished goods. This is the basic economic structure of the Chinese economy.

See the flaw?

Cut off the raw material, and the China economy slows, contracts, and if nations react severely enough with export material boycotts the entire Chinese economy implodes.

Again, we reference the earlier point: Economic strength is the ability of a nation to sustain itself. [Think about an economy during conflict or war] China cannot independently sustain itself, therefore China is necessarily vulnerable.

♦The 800lb Panda in the room is that China is arguably the least balanced economy in the modern world. Hence, China has to take extraordinary measures to secure their supply chain. This economic dependency is also why China has recently spent so much on military expansion etc., they must protect their vulnerable interests.

Everything important to the Chinese Economy surrounds their critical need to secure a strong global supply chain of raw material to import, and leveraged trade agreements for export.

China’s economy is deep (manufacturing), but China’s economy is also narrow.

China could have spent the time to create a broad-based economy, but the lack of early 1900’s foresight, in conjunction with their communist top-down totalitarian system and a massive population, led to central government decisions to subvert the bottom-up building-out and take short-cuts. Their population controls only worsened their long term ability to ever broaden their economic model.

It takes a population of young avg-skilled workers to do the hard work of building a raw material infrastructure. Mine workers, dredge builders, roads and railways, bridges and tunnels etc. All of these require young strong bodies. The Chinese cultural/population decisions amid the economic builders precluded this proactive outlook; now they have an aging population and are incapable of doing it.

This is why China has now positioned their economic system as dependent on them being an economic bully. They must retain their supply chain: import raw materials – export finished goods, at all costs.

This inherent economic structure is a weakness China must continually address through policies toward other nations. Hence, “One-Belt / One-Road” is essentially their ‘bully plan’ to ensure their supply chain and long-term economic viability.

This economic structure, and the reality of China as a dependent economic model, also puts China at risk from the effects of global economic contraction.

♦U.S. President Donald Trump and the U.S. economic team fully understand this dynamic and fully understand the inherent needs of China. When you are economically dependent, the ‘bully plan’ only works until you encounter a ‘stronger opponent’. A stronger opponent is an economic opponent with a more broad-based stable economy, that’s US.

President Trump, Commerce Secretary Ross, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Lighthizer, represent the first broad-based national team of economic negotiators who know how to leverage the inherent Chinese economic vulnerability.

All of this is so true… I dealt with a lady who owned 15 different companies in China and lives here in the US… she stated to me that when she buys a product if it says made in china she throws it back on the shelf… junk. She said that they can knock off a product (copy) however there is little to NO ORIGINAL THINKING in China, when queried as to why she stated that the government tells people what to think and what is possible.

Living this way for generations has a way of severing innovation from the human spirit.

China has huge ghost cities (Ordos) with empty apartment buildings. Export our Social Justice Warriors, Latin American border jumpers and all the Syrian refugees there to cohabitate and several problems are solved at the same time. 🙂

Because of the oppressive nature of the Chinese compliant culture, the citizens within China do not innovate or create. The “Compliance Mindset” is part of the intellectual DNA strain of a Chinese citizen.

Broadly speaking, the modern era Chinese are not able to think outside the box per se’ because the reference of all civil activity has been a history of box control by government, and compliance to stay (think) only within the approved box. The lack of intellectual thought mapping needed for innovation is why China relies on intellectual theft of innovation created by others.

Well put, and it is worth pointing out that this mindset existed long before the introduction of “communism” (in the modern European sense) to China. Communism does destroy innovation, but in the case of China older social forces were already at work, and would still be at work even if Chinese communism ended tomorrow.

A couple of comments from personal travel and study…I don’t believe it’s a mindset but rather absolute government control. Heavy fines result if you do not conform…housing taken away, pension denied, etc. Case in point, I had a guide in Beijing who told me that he was from a small rural village and was the first in the village to go to university. He studied to be an engineer with the end goal of working in dams and water management. Upon graduation, he got the usual assignment of employment from the government and it said he was to be an English guide in Beijing. He thought it was an error. For one thing, he didn’t speak English and the obvious one was his engineering degree. Guess what…he’s been an English-speaking city tour guide now for over 20 years. He had no choice. It is very tiny example of no personal choices regarding where you live, work or most life decisions.
BTW, after the old Soviet Union dissolved it was very much the same situation. For decades people had been told what they could study, where they could work, etc and when they had those choices suddenly thrust upon them they were ill-equipped to even know how to look for or interview for a job. They had always been “taken care of” by central government and were utterly lost.

Compliance is the foundational tenet of communism. Nurturing a compliant culture, not only in the in the populous, but also throughout the government’s state organs is vital.
The PRC’s branches of government all have different responsibilities, yet they adhere to the line, principles and policies of the party; hence President Xi’s continuous crackdown on “corruption”.
However, as in all populations and governments, innovators abound in China, both within and outside of party policy. With a median age of approx 37 years in a population nearing 1.4 billion, China’s actions/reactions (to mitigate their structural deficiencies) must be a central consideration in all U.S. foreign trade decisions, and not overlooked for short-term financial gain as has happened during the past 30 years.

Nicholas Wade (former NYT science editor) did an excellent job of researching and explaining this and other cultural differences among the races (yes, there ARE distinct races which are clearly proven in DNA) in his book “A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History”.

NO such thing as race…..slight variations in the human genome from mutations and degeneration over the years…..we are ALL sons of Adam and his progeny Noah….through Noah’s 3 sons is where part of the variation took root

It takes some degree of faith to be a true believer in the dating of items the older they supposedly are.

For radiocarbon dating, you get a sample of carbon material from the artifact of interest. Then, you figure out the ratio of carbon 14 to carbon 12. As the artifact ages, this ratio gets more extreme, since the carbon 14 decays into nitrogen 14; you have the same quantity of carbon 12 across time, but less carbon 14.

The tough part is that the carbon 14 is not anywhere close to as common in the sample as the carbon 14, and this very lopsided ratio gets exponentially more extreme across time.

It gets to be in the range of trillions of parts of carbon 12 to a single part carbon 14.

ABD, you can look this up and declare your doctrine: what are these ratios across time, and what citations do you have that such minute quantities can be reliably tested?

And, that the various confounds are not messing anything up?

This ends up being the challenge for lead-lead dating, foundational (starting with Clair Patterson) to dating the earth according to true-believer faith in a Godless world.

At a very complex level — you have to look for “on/off” phenotypic markers — it’s very hard to tell a Chihuahua from a wolf, let alone a mastiff (probably why those doggy DNA tests are a bigger scam than the human ones which are also a scam). All the genetic info needed to create the Chihuahua is in the wolf (you’re also dealing with one of the most malleable DNAs in the world with Canis).
And it really is rather abhorrent (and wrong — our DNA doesn’t work like Canis’ does) to equate humanity with dogs…other than to note that the sad state of our furry friends is the direct result of the eugenicist movement and their obsessions with bloodlines and purity:

My original post was not intended to delve into the intricacies of individual species’ DNA makeup. It was to show that anyone with a set of eyes and common sense can tell with no shred of any doubt, that humans, like any other creature on Earth, are different and NOT the same. This can be deducted by various means, the first, easiest, and naturally occurring, being the eyes. Color coded. There are other means.

There is without doubt, different races of humans. Each has its’ own genetic makeup and identifiers. There is not one shred of doubt about it. Race IS real. It IS important. It IS a major indicator of future behaviors and traits. Anyone trying to convince others differently is either too ignorant of science, or willingly lying.

“It IS a major indicator of future behaviors and traits.”
This would be hugely laughable if not so dangerous.

Behaviors can be seen to vary greatly amongst my handful of siblings, and we all share the same parents.

And, the leading targets of these “racism” arguments are African Americans – Newly immigrated African Americans have, generally, very old-fashioned values and corresponding behaviors, while the African-American slave descendents, here for 150 to 300 years, have an amazing range of “behaviors” – from the fine, upstanding, law-abiding Christians with whom I go to church to my neighborhood record-as-long-as-your-arm baby-daddy drug dealer.

No one up thread has mentioned any specific race of people. Until you. The discussion was not about one race being special or superior over any other. The discussion was the fact that race does exist, and is easily provable.

The fact that you specifically mention “African-Americans” proves my point. If they were not a distinct race, you would have nothing to discuss. Race IS real. Race is also a great indicator of future behaviors and traits. Your mentioning “African-Americans” and newly immigrated “Africans” and the differences between them is also proof of different races.
(Not between them, but among all the rest).

No one really cares about your Virtue Signalling. Not I especially. Save it for your fellow Demonrats.

“It IS a major indicator of future behaviors and traits.”
This would be hugely laughable if not so dangerous.

Indeed. Laughable, except it is not. Dangerous for those not paying attention to the fact that according to every single study ever done, “Africans” regardless of their current living space, are the most violent race on the planet. Look it up.

I am now living in Texas, and every single Black I have met here has been polite and respectful. So different from the Northern climes. I do not hate Black people. I just know from birth, personal observations, statistics, and natural color coding, that I will always be aware of my surroundings when not in the presence of my own race.

It is how they found out the American Mustang is mainly MORGAN HORSE and NOT the descendents of Spanish horses as the Romantics thought and taught for years. The US Army used to turn loose young health pure blood Morgan Studs to improve the wild strain so the y would be useful as Army mounts.

It is also how they traced back a genetic desease in Quarter horses th the stud Impressive.

Thomas Sowell has shown the opposite. He has shown that people constrained in one place will actually do well in other places. The Chinese in Indonesia are a good example. Not constrained by imperials and communists, they have become a successful and wealthy minority. Hong Kong under British rule was a good counter example too.

That is very true. At least it was before we started accepting welfare immigrants. Also there has been a self selection. Go to America where I can make it via hard work and ingenuity, or stay where I am and not have to do that. And many immigrants did decide it wasn’t for them, and went back to their country.

Their classical social system is based on the Confucian Work Ethic (Analects of Confucius) filial piety, and “rectify the names”. The old hippie, Lao Tzu ,met with Confucius one time and argued Tao (the Way) vs the Analects. After the meeting, Confucius walked away shaking his head, saying, “I can never open my mouth again.”

Exactly right. This is one of the reasons why the education reform movement in this country is concerning to me: It’s an attempt to copy the “success” of the Chinese education system. Their spirit of their system, complete with high stakes testing, is centuries old.
Meanwhile, the Chinese are desperately trying to change their education system to be how ours used to be (good luck to them, they’ll need it). I don’t agree with everything Yong Zhao says, but he has a good grasp on the Chinese education system (he should as he’s from there), and he’s quite thought provoking.

Very interesting analysis, makes clear what Trump and his team are doing. For example, the N. Korea situation is a sitting duck for pressure from the US on China to reign in the aggressive NorK government. I imagine that in time the US will lean on China to pull back its military deployment on the artificial islands. It will be especially effective when China becomes more dependent on US energy supplies (LNG, coal). The pace of these developments will be gradual, sort of like watching a big ice sculpture melt while the banquet is still going on.

Folks I have read many of the posts today on the Presidential thread. Please understand we are so close to blowing the Democrats, Uniparty, CoC, Big Club, George Soros, Globalist to dust! What the Wilburine accomplished with China in less than 50 days mortifies them. The beef is a big deal but pails in comparison to the LNG. China has close to 1.5 Billion people it needs fuel for. The United States is unleashing the Energy sector at record pace. Today the Dakota pipeline is becoming operational. Secretary Zinke is within a few months of destroying all the land grabs of the previous 3 Presidents. OPEC is scared out of their minds. Saudi Arabia is about to purchase $100 Billion dollars worth of military equipment. They are also acknowledging that the total will reach $300 billion over the next 10 years.

Losing Comey is the death blow they never expected! This has them throwing not only the kitchen sink at our President but the wives and kids. Muh Russia is DEAD! Once that is gone, hell on Earth will be coming their way. Every interview our President tells us what is coming in the near future. HRC, Bill Clinton, Podesta and the rest of the POS that sold our country to Russia will be prosecuted. These bastards have less than a month to throw everything they have.

Our economy are showing signs we haven’t seen in the last 20 to 30 years of skyrocketing. The Atlanta Fed excepts GDP to hit 4.5% in the second quarter. Obamacare is DEAD! There is nothing the CoC and Uniparty can do to revive it! Legislation will be passed as much as they don’t want to. Americans and our President will be the ultimate winners when it is done.

I have presented data the last week or so that shows our President gaining in the 3 states that will determine the 2020 election (FL, OH and PA). According to the polls, he would win all 3 states today. The Republican Senator candidate is up 5 points on the Democrat incumbent. Jeff Flake is down 12 points and will be primaried in AZ! Our President will campaign for 2018 the way he did for his own election. He will live in the 10 to 15 states we will flip! We have 9 Republicans up foe reelection. Six are guaranteed while the other 2 are guaranteed except who the Republican will be (TX and AZ). The one state to be concerned with is NZ but early projections have it leaning red. That means our President will go after the 10 Democrats up for reelection in states he won as well as states that can be picked off! Last night he told you that Chuck the Duck will be completely irrelevant after 18′. That is because he knows we will have a supermajority of 60 to 65 Republicans. They scum of the swamp know it and are mortified they can’t stop it!

The RNC raised nearly $47 million dollars in the first quarter of 2017. The most ever in its history after a Republican President was inaugurated. Mitch McConnell absolutely gets it and will do everything in his power to push the Lion’s agenda. He runs for reelection in 2020 in a state that LOVES our President. His wife has a chance to etch her name in the history books with a one Trillion dollar infrastructure that will transform our roads, bridges and airports. Mitch has to hear that from her every night. Paul Ryan got to taste victory that day on the Rose Garden. They all looked like little kids smiling that their DAD was so proud of them. Our Lion left a taste in they mouths that will have them yearning for more!

This week our generals will share the destruction our military is doing against ISIS! It will be breathtaking. NK will be denuclearized before 2020! Our President will build such leverage with Russia that Syria will become yesterday’s news. The fear of us supplying LNG to Europe will have Putin kill Assad himself. Iran will be put on ice as well. 1,400 gang members were arrested throughout the country on the same day by ICE! 400 were illegals. Many were MS-13 members. Our Lion wasn’t lying last night when he said people in those areas where cheering and crying because these monsters were gone never to return again. Imagine what the numbers will look like when the number of ICE agents are tripled.

I could go on with 8 to 10 additional paragraphs. Stop going to sites that try to get you to believe what is not there! CTH is my only place I go to. Treepers like ALEX, Pam, MAGA supply me with info I can read and watch that affirms my beliefs. That you to all, especially SD!

Appreciate your very optimistic comments! We’ll keep Good Thoughts that it turns out the way you paint the picture. I’m sure there will be impediments and setbacks, there always are along the way to big successes. Point is not to get discouraged when that happens, but to hold steady in pursuit of all the worthy goals you’ve outlined.

Winning the Senate seats in play for 2018 is obviously essential to enable Trump’s strategies to succeed. It requires the contributions of Trump’s supporters, our effort, money and time to assure those victories. We can’t remain passive and expect the things we want to see accomplished actually come about. But I’m optimistic that we deplorables will rise to the challenge and answer the call to action.

Have you noticed the precipitous drop in “Concern Troll” postings lately? No doubt some of that is due to the diligence of ad rem and the administrators, but I think it’s mainly due to PDJT’s continuing blitzkrieg of WINNING. The “concern trolls” are simply “stealth trolls” who are nevertrumper RINOs or leftards and they are being bombarded with losing. It is demoralizing and frustrating to constantly lose and I predict a noticeable absence of their ilk in the future.

Administrators, yes. But also the rank and file treepers here don’t react in the normal fashion to trolls. Trolls love a reaction, whether good or bad, they want to be noticed. The adults here just don’t play that game.

Excellent review, fleporeblog, AS USUAL!! My one, very small quibble has to do with Pauli Ryano; still don’t trust him (yea, I know, PDJT is putting him in a box where he belongs) and believe that Paul Nehlen will make another run at the seat in ’18.

Interesting thought about LNG. If Trump wants to sell US LNG to Europe, then Putin and Trump have common ground on not having a NG pipeline go through Syria. :} A pipeline of NG would take the market for LNG due to costs.

Watch for the NEWS, (or changes) in “pipelines” (like Keystone.)
WSJ: U.S., China reach deal to expand U.S. exports including LNG
The U.S. and China have reached agreement on broad terms to grant U.S. natural gas exporters and certain other industries easier access to Chinese markets, WSJ reports.
The governments reportedly will release a joint diplomatic communiqué sometime this month outlining several areas in which the two countries hope to encourage U.S. trade to China, including supplies of liquefied natural gas.
The exact provisions on gas exports are unclear, but will call for opening Chinese gas markets and joint investment in infrastructure projects in China needed to process and import LNG, according to the report.
Only one U.S. company, Cheniere Energy (NYSEMKT:LNG), has shipped LNG cargoes from the lower 48 states for about a year, but dozens of companies are seeking permits for new, billion dollar facilities, setting the U.S. to become a net exporter of gas by 2018 for the first time since the 1950s.

Cross,
Three others are going on line soon. Cove Point MD (750mmcf/day)
Elba Island GA (210 mmcf/day) which will ramp up fast after Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipelines go into service in ’19.
Cameron LA which has been delayed due to flooding.

Jumping up and down with happiness. What a joy to have Donald J. Trump as our President.

I was at my daughter’s house last night. She and I sat out on her deck and her 10 year old daughter Hannah joined us. I told Hannah how lucky and blessed she is to be growing up under President Trump. She can go about her life without a communist in the WH intent on destroying her future. I explained how very close we came to losing everything. She understands but made a funny comment by saying her friends think DJT looks orange. I laughed and said that is because our fake news media purposely makes him look like that on tv. I showed her pictures saved on my tablet that shows he isn’t an Oompa Loompa. Gotta keep her straight with truth. 😁

I agree with all but the part about the military. As long as POTUS has Disaster McMaster & other Petraeus lackeys advising him, bad, bad news. I hope the destruction against ISIS continues, but meanwhile, for about the 1,000th time, Assad is NOT the enemy. We have been deluged with propaganda from the MSM, Neocons, warmongers. He needs to be left alone. Take him out, and we will have another Libya, and look what happened there, and is still happening. Assad has been elected and re-elected & is one of the few in the ME who has actually protected Christians. Follow the money to see why the above want him gone!

Fleporeblog, you are that rare combination of optimist and realist. You are always optimistic and encouraging, but your summaries, predictions, and analysis are always based on facts and real-life observations and events! So glad to have someone like you on our side! #MoreWinning 😀

Fleporeblog,
Yes, I find it fascinating that the MSM say this deal is same old stuff. I suspect they don’t know what 19Bcf/day is. That’s >3,500,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

At $4 natural gas that is $27 Billion a year. LNG costs ~$2 for liquidation process so that gets us to $40.5 Billion a year. That’s “at the export point”. Should get $9 at import point rather than that $6 export point.

Now that $2 for liquidation process is to pay-off the construction costs that are front loaded. So you’re looking at a $300 billion stimulus package. That generates tax revenue rather spending it. Oh, that’s 1/3 of our President’s promised Trillion $$ infrastructure spending.

Now for the bad news
For export to China or India you need Left Coast Facilities. Shipping from East Coast or Gulf is too expensive. Alaska is most likely. CA, OR or WA are “Antis”. Plus Alaska has the gas.

Crossthread,
I’ve been waiting for Morehead/Wilmington LNG for awhile. Northern most business friendly state. Those two pipeline projects have been holding it up. Once the dam breaks there is going to be a skilled labor shortage.

I have a co-worker who was in grad school about 20 to 25 years ago. He met a lot of foreign students, who were also in grad school. He said they were every bit as intelligent as the Americans, had a strong scholastic background, and had a good understanding of technical information. However, none of them had any creativity. They depending on their advisor for nearly everything: Choosing a thesis, deciding what materials they needed, acquiring those materials, understanding the finances involved in putting together a project, finding subject matter experts. The advisors had to spend enormous amounts of time walking these students through the process.

What you said might be true 10- 20 years ago. But the younger generation of Chinese students are much more creative and innovative than their previous generations. While it was true that lots of accomplishments in modern Chinese society were built upon western IP and technology, many areas already saw more innovation than their western counterparts. For instance, China nowadays has the probably the best mobile payment network in the world. In some major cities, you can literally pay for anything with your cell phone.

“China nowadays has the probably the best mobile payment network in the world. In some major cities, you can literally pay for anything with your cell phone.”

I don’t see this as innovative. It simply is a long standing communist tradition of keeping tabs on the population. Paying for everything electronically simply allows the government to know EVERYTHING about you.

I believe you a 100% correct. The government, retail operations and tech people would love for every transaction you make to be recorded for easy retrieval for numerous reasons. It won’t be long and people paying cash for items will come under great scrutiny…even more so than paying or depositing $10,000.00 or more. If you sell items for cash (a car, boat or RV) or are a cash business the IRS will really scrutinize you and even harass you.

The Chinese I knew in Physics graduate school were much better test takers than us. But what do you expect from a selection system that depends on test results to find the best of over a billion people to send to America for advanced training. (that was 24-30 years ago too.)

But many have learned from us to apply the concepts in the real world, to think for themselves and to do independent, original work. And they have support in setting up leading research facilities at home.

Like the Soviet system, they will advance in subjects the government prioritizes, stay backwards in subjects the government manipulates, and do okay in areas the government has no interest in.

American culture specifically is based around freedom of thought and severe disdain of government telling us what to do; THAT freedom is necessary for innovation. That freedom actually creates innovation.

There is no box, unless you build it and put yourself in to limit yourself…

Me personally, I take it as a personal challenge when some bozo tells me something can’t be done. It has been my experience in that case, no one has thought long enough or hard enough on “what” needs to be done then figure out “how” to do it.

True. I stopped counting, but I still notice the people that say something can’t be- stunted and complacent. Content with the status quo or unwilling to change. Any more I find myself thinking not if I can do something, but if I should do it lol…

I rejoice in the opportunity to chase squirrels and let my mind wander… I write my thoughts on paper and some times when I can find the scraps of paper I act on them. The ones I “forget” where I put them, they are tomorrow’s Easter egg…

Some humble advice – rather than saying “let it go”, replace it with “let it go until later”…

I coach people we are the captain of our individual ship and only we can determine where we want to go, how fast to go, and when we want to arrive at the destination we have chosen for ourselves…

I can understand about the need to be focused. I carry around a notebook myself. In the areas I go a computer or digital device will not survive. One other humble suggestion: there are different sized notebooks – I keep a small one handy in my pocket if I need to jot down a part number or reminder for something and make note of the date I entered the note like a journal.

Not being beholden to computers does not make you old fashioned. You have your reasons for that and far be it for me to say anything derogatory. I can understand it too – some of the biggest waste of time is exploring all the bells and whistles on the system when at the end of the day it don’t matter.

That was one of the primary points by President Trump to the graduates yesterday.
BTW, I viewed the address later and was particularly struck by the focus of his speech…weaving some history of humble beginnings and vision of the Founders of Liberty U, recognizing a couple of individuals that exemplified not giving up, and speaking directly to the students. He did not use the occasion to pontificate about his agenda in a speech that could be given anywhere at anytime. He was there to honor the students and the occasion and he did it splendidly.

SD I signed up for a newsletter months ago while at Time Square. Was shocked they were advertising crap about Soros, Barry and Ukraine. This was in the heart of Manhattan. These folks send me an article everyday and they swear by the One Belt One Road Initiative. They are celebrating this news as if they won the Super Bowl.

With a little over 24 hours until the opening of the Belt and Road Initiative forum in Beijing, the United States has officially announced that in fact a delegation will be attending, representing the US and the Trump Administration. Our webcast features numerous exciting and fast-moving developments as the world is transformed by this vision of win-win cooperation and peace through development which the British imperialists have tried so desperately to derail, including with the attempted political coup ongoing against the Trump Administration. Our webcast ends with a clip from an exclusive interview with Senator Richard Black, in which he discusses his courageous fight against the acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe’s attack against him as a leading opponent of Obama’s regime change policy. The full interview is available here.

A lot of people think Lyndon Larouche is a conspiracy nut, but he has spoken of a lot of truth that no one wants to see. His life history is pretty wild though, going from being a trotskyist early on and even teaching marxist crap at one point, through the entire spectrum to what most would now call a right wing extremist. At times I have considered him to be mainly an opportunist, of which I have absolutely no problem. If he is in support of anything that makes America great again, good for him, and good for us. He is still influential with a large audience.

Your highlighting of the ‘compliance mindset’ in Chinese culture is hugely important to understanding the strength of the American economy under capitalist cultural influences.

I’m a Software Engineer and can state unequivocally that the Indian culture suffers from the same ‘compliance mindset’. The result is that generally high-skilled H-1B Indian labor that is imported to fill software development positions results in reduced quality when compared with their American counterparts. They tend to require more supervision and direction in their work.

It’s an interesting dynamic that I’ve observed and I’m glad to see that other people like yourself have observed it as well.

I remember reading some reports that the Silicon Valley and left-coast tech companies took a position against President Trump’s travel ban policies. They,offered up some BS that Trump’s policies would adversely affect their ability to hire workers. It made me wonder how many quality high tech workers they would be unable to employ from the countries named in the travel ban. Along the same line, here is a report regarding India’s software engineers. It was found that only 14.67 percent would be employable by a modern IT firm. And only 2.2 percent of India’s software engineers could write fully functional code using the best practices and methods.

Chojun, I am giggling reading your words.
As my son says, “They’re brilliant but they can’t even decide when to go to lunch.”
We have a son who started “testing well” but as parents we were not convinced he could compete against the world’s best because he went to a small, rural,, southern school. For confirmation, one of the first places we sent him was a three-week stint at MIT for Java.

Makeup of the group, 27 students, 5 Americans, only two females, he was the only one from the south. Most students were from Hong Kong/China/Taiwan/Singapore/Jakarta and my son learned they had been sponsored by their governments or won a contest in programming. This proves the Treeper’s premise we are only seeing their best and brightest.

At 15 years old, our kid was a 6’2″, pimply-faced, testosterone molecule but even he picked up on what other Treepers confirm. He was astonished by brilliant students who were unable to make a decision and act. I thought he was talking about project goals but no. The indecision was evident in every part of their lives.

He said they could not decide how to organize, when to stop working, how to divide work to accomplish a task, when to eat, what to eat, and on weekend tours, what to see, or in which direction to turn. He said, “By the third day, I had to put them to bed at 10:30pm” and when he decided to go to lunch/dinner, they would dutifully follow behind. It’s like Sundance says, culturally, all decisions are made by central planning and there are no individual leaders.

He said it was “really weird mom” but “necessary” and he felt like he was “the king of a bunch of ants” albeit “brilliant ants”. After a few days, our son felt awkward and backed off, but the group became ineffective, turned on each other, and resorted to individual solutions. He stepped back in to lead when they became cruel. Our son said, “It was like they had never been on a team before.”

He also noticed most students had a hard time communicating with professors beyond a mere language barrier. These students were reluctant to ask for additional supplies, info, or push a limit for special favor — bending the rules. This proves Treeper premise of no critical thinking or lack of innovation.

We all know, many high performing intellects tend to approach Aspergers or have social ticks. Our son is not THAT smart but has become quite deft at identifying, empathizing with, and living among these types. Later on in high school, he attended a state math and science school – mostly for Americans. Interestingly, the higher IQ Americans are still defiant and individualistic, whereas the Asians are still compliant and less likely to lead. Maybe the question becomes what quirks are related to intellect and which are cultural? Need someone with a PhD here, heaven knows, I’m certainly out of my league.

And their mentioned one child per family for years, even without President Trump and his team. They will become old before they become rich.

One would also seem to conclude for the protection of their homeland and resources, the lack of young recruits will be further burdened by elders digging foxholes. Then add the corporations and jobs returning to safe soil, lower taxes, less regulations and a land of laws for freedom loving people, China is in a tough spot. For years ahead.

Unmentioned but of immense importance is the imbalance in the number of males compared to females in China. Under the one child rule, female children were aborted or killed in favor of having the sole child be male.

The result is a lot more marriage age males than females. What will all those males with no hopes of finding a wife do to channel their testosterone?

There’s also the question of caring for aging parents. In China, the younger generation takes care of the older one and, typically, this burden falls on the female children. If the male child does find a wife, they are now responsible for caring for 4 aging parents while they also try to afford a life together.

All true, but important that we do not make the mistake of seeing the mote in another’s eye while ignoring the beam in our own. It is difficult to find people to care for the disabled elderly NOW in the United States. Far too many potential helpers are on drugs or otherwise unreliable; and far too many people shun this essential work because it is low-status.

My wish is that the churches, schools and voluntary social organizations will mobilize more citizens to do essential daily care: help to feed, bathe, do laundry and home repair for the elderly in a compassionate way, and be proud of themselves for doing it

The person I went out to help this morning had not had essential help for *two days*, Friday and Saturday, because NO ONE was available. We do have large populations of people who can work, but many are ashamed to work — and foolish arrogant leadership encourages the shaming of hands-on low-paid work. That’s for… immigrants, or something

Today I cleaned out a chest of drawers that was full of the evidence of mice — mouse poop, mouse urine discoloring the clothing, etc. No one else had cleaned this piece of furniture for a variety of reasons (and fear of Hanta virus is reasonable…) Fervently hope that my own exit will be quick and painless instead of long, neglected and unwashed, overrun by vermin.

Children ignoring/abandoning their filial duty is becoming a rising problem. Enough that laws are in place to allow the parents to sue their kids. (apologies in advance for the Lame Stream Media links)

Sundance if you see this Reese Palley, in his book “Unlikely People”, tells his story of Mr. ‘Ghou and Miss Dung’ in chapter 3. His experience of accidentally starting manufacturing plant for a dinghy in Shanghai in the 1980s long before anyone else did so and his encounters with the Chinese central bureaucracy brings to life the information in this post. It is an interesting read 😉

The major flaw in the “free trade” argument that even Milton Friedman didn’t see is when a country like the US GIVES AWAY generations of US taxpayer and consumer paid R&D, engineering and scientific discovery in return for a lower price from cheap labor. To make the price fair, add in the cost of our technology that results in the product.

This is especially true when we outsource strategically vital equipment like computer chips or the steel that goes into our defense equipment. We give away not only our innovations refined over decades but we also give them the blueprint for how to destroy us. We know the Chinese have put “backdoors” into some of the chips they manufacture. How do we know the steel they sell us isn’t manufactured to fail under certain circumstances or just so poorly manufactured it is bound to fail?

Conspiracy theory? No. The military won’t buy Lenovo computers because of the backdoors in the chips. As for substandard manufacture google Chinese drywall or Chinese baby formula.

US taxpayers have paid trillions in university grants and military contracts for discoveries and advancement in technology. Consumers have paid trillions supporting private industry’s development of ever more sophisticated cell phones, television, autos, airplanes. Why should we not be compensated? What other country gives away its intellectual property?

Great points. Understanding worth that is not obvious, not liquid, and not easily monetized, but which expresses powerfully and diffusely in other ways, in a business, an industry, or an economy, is critical for politicians, economists, and business leaders to defend America’s intellectual property. We have to realize what we actually own, and resist the dummies who bring short-term thinking into all our institutions, devaluing true worth.

What you describe should have been foreseeable. We got off to a good start by stealing British Intellectual property. We sent our brightest to study in European universities and had them set up our university systems.

It is true that everybody does the same. But it is very unlikely that just any country and culture can succeed like we did.

Where I worry is looking back more recently to how we replaced the pound as the world’s main currency, helped them divest themselves of their colonies, and supplanted them as the superpower. It all started by economic advancement here.

“How do we know the steel they sell us isn’t manufactured to fail under certain circumstances or just so poorly manufactured it is bound to fail?”
If you want to feel serious frustration try welding Chinese pipe fittings! I wonder what will happen to the buildings full of their stuff..

Great analysis – it makes lots of sense. China is trying to move from a state of inherent structural disadvantage to one of advantage, and the ONLY way to do that is to hold us back. This makes incredible sense, and matches Chinese strategy which was described to me by one particularly knowledgeable source. It explains WHY they could not seek true win-win in the past – their win-win had to be win-lose under the covers.

I think I see some “copying” in One-Belt-One-Road itself. They have set as a target to copy and become the “would-be America” – the place where we should be right now – which they have destroyed over decades through abusive, parasitic economic policies and ACTIONS, which make their policies mostly lies – pleasant gifts designed to fall apart.

Trump’s vision of America is basically a return to where America SHOULD be – a state which China is well aware of, and has worked very hard to move us away from. The Chinese clearly studied thinkers like Skousen, who they helped suppress through their American left-bots and globalist chumps.

Trump is trying to get us back to where we should be. He will renegotiate NAFTA on land, and will nuke TPP and other trade straitjackets, to be replaced by a new American mercantile economy, sailing the seven seas in ships built with American steel.

This is the “old American solution” which China tried to destroy through promotion of misguided and corrupt globalists and Stalinist stooges like the Clintons and Obama.

China knows that, to compete, they have to segue to the same state where we should be, but defensibly, and preferably where they have a competitive advantage (Eurasia by land, neighboring regions by sea). Hence this.

One can literally read their naval strategy and intertwined diplomatic strategy right off this thing.

Lots of interesting political implications as well. Perfect for all kinds of Trump solutions. 😎

So true WolfMoon.
For too long, America has not had leadership at the top, to think strategically, to use economic/military/natural resource pressure all at once to ensure an favorable outcome to the USA. PDJT does think this way.

Yes – our leaders had an Achilles heel composed of self-superiority, playable magnanimity, and guilt about success – all of which were easily used as a handle by the communists and their globalist shills. “Rich guy should pick up the tab.”

One cannot negotiate properly when “giving aways other people’s stuff” is even allowed on the table. THIS is why negotiations like TPP have been kept secret from us. “Giving away other people’s stuff” is not workable when “other people” are looking.

That is how trade was subverted to help socialism. Taking “other people’s stuff” directly is too obvious. New ways had to be found. Using NATO to pay for “meals for Muslims” was one of the more cunning ones, but multilateral trade negotiations were probably the most generally workable. Very easy to play a shell game with 3 or more shells. Two shells is too rough for the cheaters to pull off. Trump needs to keep this in mind when renegotiating NAFTA. It’s still a shell game.

HANGZHOU, China — Even a decade ago, car manufacturing in China was still a fairly low-tech, labor-intensive endeavor. Thousands of workers in a factory, earning little more than $1 an hour, performed highly repetitive tasks, while just a handful of industrial robots dotted factory floors.

No longer.

At Ford’s newest car assembly plant in Hangzhou in east-central China, at least 650 robots, resembling huge, white-necked vultures, bob and weave to assemble the steel structures of utility vehicles and midsize sedans. Workers in blue uniforms and helmets still do some of the welding, but much of the process has been automated.

The state-of-the-art factory exemplifies the vast transformation that has taken place across manufacturing in China. General Motors opened a similarly ultra-modern Cadillac factory in the eastern suburbs of Shanghai, as well as one in Wuhan. Other automakers are also pouring billions of dollars into China, now the world’s largest auto market.

Robots are critical to China’s economic ambitions, as Chinese companies look to move up the manufacturing chain. The Ford assembly plant is across the street from a robot-producing factory owned by Kuka, the big German manufacturer of industrial robots that a Chinese company bought last summer.

For carmakers, the reliance on robots is driven partly by cost. Blue-collar wages have soared because multinational companies have moved much of their production to China even as its labor force is rapidly changing. The combination of the one-child policy, which cut the birth rate through the 1980s and ’90s, and an eightfold increase in college enrollments has cut by more than half the number of people entering the work force each year who have less than a high school degree and may be willing to consider factory work.

Blue-collar wages are now $4 to $6 an hour in large, prosperous cities, though still far lower than in the United States.

Someone still has to design then build those robots. Further upstream in the process, someone has to decide what they want those robots to be doing and either find a robot that will do what needs to be done or start in motion the process of developing a robot that will do what they need it to do. Then they have to build and test it…

Robotics are good to deliver consistency of output. It forces you to tighten up consistency of input or quality into the process. Said differently, a person can compensate for variations of a manufacturing process without even having to think about it. A robot or automated machine is limited in the variation it can accommodate. Garbage in garbage out if you do not have quality systems in place.

Then, the Chinese will experience what we have for decades… You can control information to a point, but it is harder still to control what people have in their heads when the workforce starts being mobile….

Getting to consult in higher ed. I have been able to work with people from all over. At the graduate level, the game is no longer about mastering a defined body of knowledge but gets to be about the big picture, creativity, etc. The Chinese , and Taiwanese, really too often just don’t get it. And I talk slow and draw pictures for them to bridge the language gap.

Well in 1960, Prime Minister Harold MacMillan announced that Britain was pulling out of its African colonies and — as though there were some “deal” — the Chinese immediately purchased the governments of these new countries, signing long-term raw material deals at a fraction of the then global price.

Needless to say, the fire-sale of African raw materials to China does not produce the income required to maintain railroads, roads, water systems, elementary schools and other infrastructure built by British colonials and these have deteriorated terribly. Since corruption tends to descend from the top, what income arrives is rapidly absorbed by central governments and does not reach beyond the capitals.

Pretty soon, China will need to invest in basic African infrastructure, human and environmental health, if only to maintain ongoing resource extraction and keep cheap raw materials flowing to Chinese cargo ships. And what will happen when Brazil and others offer African politicians larger bribes and better deals for their raw materials? The work of a Chinese communist “fraternally assisting” politicians in Africa may turn very stressful.

I don’t post very often but I am on the Tree House site several times a day and it is the ONLY place I go to! I have posted the website on my FB page and have recommended that all should review The Tree House site and use it for clear and concise political, economical, and educational news apart from the muck and mire that is out there in media. I have dozens of Trump supporters on my FB site. I want to really thank SunDance for the enormous work, time, and efforts given for all of us to enjoy the articles and to learn from them! THANK YOU SUNDANCE!!!!! Also…to the many, many professional and extremely intelligent posters on here too!!! You are all amazing!! I wish I could meet you all personally! This is an exceptional site in every way possible! A warm Happy Mother’s Day to you moms out there and God’s blessings to all of you!!! Thank you again! Trump!!!! MAGA!!

“Because of the oppressive nature of the Chinese compliant culture, the citizens within China do not innovate or create. The “Compliance Mindset” is part of the intellectual DNA strain of a Chinese citizen.

Broadly speaking, the modern era Chinese are not able to think outside the box per se’ because the reference of all civil activity has been a history of box control by government, and compliance to stay (think) only within the approved box. The lack of intellectual thought mapping needed for innovation is why China relies on intellectual theft of innovation created by others”

On a side note, honest & intelligent people understand this communist dynamic. Only weak minded & weak willed people allow themselves to be controlled to such an extent

You can be smart, but without balls, you don’t get very far

Yet this is what the leftists want for us, total control over us & our submission to government

That’s smart? That’s progressive? That’s hip?

Generations of our children have been taught the Chinese dynamic to the point they think it’s right to be controlled & used

Hopefully President Trump’s insight & guidance will open up some eyes. We were about to go down the China road, & our economy would have gone with it

Japanese worker philosophy was near the rage when the steel industry was dying here in the rustbelt. Middle mgmt. was pushed to incorporate this. We died, and only got resurrected when our Wilburine put the money up to re-open the company. Dollar incentives and non-union shop made it thrive, until Wilburine sold it.

If readers would like to get a much different view regarding the alleged lack of Chinese innovation, I would suggest Needhams “Science and Civilization in China” in seven volumes. There are abridged versions also. It is meticulously researched, and delves into Chinese discoveries, innovations , and advancements in major areas of science.

China imports more than half its daily oil consumption. That must come through the Straits of Malacca or the Arafura Sea north of Australia. China can probably run a war economy on domestic oil for a while but not a civil economy. The Chinese elites understand that the big threat to them is civil unrest and worse if tens of millions of previously upwardly mobile urbanised workers are forced back to the village.
Wonder how far wandering Chinese eyes have gone with planning for the absorption of resource rich Australia?

China’s goal is to use its currency worldwide. One Belt One Road will allow them the ability to generate long term rates of return. It’s like what Romney said in 2012: “If not the FED, then who??? the Congress? No thanks.” Similar issue today. If you look at the Trump infrastructure plan, you’ll notice that our President’s plan provides true public private partnership at almost zero cost…most of the money is already oversees so this will bring the money back for American Development.

Romney is a globalist tool, of course he wants to keep the not at all federal nor is it a reserve in place.

The fed has raped the American people’s resources again and again, and will do so again as soon as it sees the right numbers that will come from Trump’s economic powerhouse team creating the right setting for massive growth.

The fed is a privately owned banking cartel with foreign interest as well.

Thank you Sundance I did not realize the inforstructure weakness present in the supply chain. I was aware of reports of over production Of Consumer goods, warehouses full of already obsolete electronics.

The continued myth of the Chinese economic strength, boosted the arguments here to hold down wages to stay competitive. China has some painful adjustments to make. Our food and fuel will make those adjustments easier .We also will gain leverage not only with Nok but also with what has been a downward spiraling Pacific Rim with its most dangerous player.

One of the most surreal things I’ve ever seen was a beer factory in the hinterlands of Western China back in the 90’s.

It was HUGE. The floor was filled with Conveyor Belts loaded with empty beer bottles that were supposed to be filled with beer as they went around.

As the belt moved, some were empty, some 1/2 filled, some 80%, some 1/4 filled. Beer was falling outside bottles, the clanking sound in there was deafening. It was a freaking mess.

There was barely anyone in attendance to deal with the thousands of bottles and several broken down Conveyor Belts.

The guy told me it was old equipment from the Soviet Union and asked me what the American man I was visiting with did for work. When I told him he was a Welder the guy got really excited and asked if my friend would help them out. Didn’t even want to see what kind of work he did before “offering him a job” !

Yes. China’s Manufacturing Infrastructure left a lot to be desired. I’m sure it’s better now, but who knows by how much.

“In 1984, Alexey Pajitnov was diligently programming computer games that tested the capabilities of new equipment developed by the USSR. In his spare time, he drew inspiration from his favorite puzzle board game, Pentominos, and decided to create a computer game for himself.”https://tetris.com/about-tetris/

Perfect example is Afghanistan.
Our geologists are mapping the rare earth minerals in Afghanistan, building roads/bypasses, defending the country, and the Chinese are LITERALLY on the other side of a mountain doing the mining.
Same thing in Africa.
USA defends the region and China makes a deal for the raw materials.

I been wanting to speak some, with knowledge of the subject..
I was, a long time ago, a, how can I say, “Metal processor” , of sorts for the G.E. aerospace/Nuke/Turbine industry here, in ILM. N.C.
Before the 1987 “Crash/Correction” We became a “Sister City” to 2 Cities in China; Dandong, Liaoning, China—1986…
Under OUR Local CoC, (Chamber of Commerce)
Make sure also to see of your City/Town is NOT a member of this!http://www.scawilmington.org/about.html
(Activities include: cultural events, youth programs and exchanges, teacher sponsorships and exchanges, hosting international visitors, economic development and more.
AND..
SCI is a nonprofit citizen diplomacy network that creates and strengthens partnerships between U.S. and international communities. The organization strives to build global cooperation at the
municipal level, promote cultural understanding and stimulate economic development.SCI is a leader for local community development and volunteer action that motivates and empowers private citizens, municipal officials and business leaders to conduct long-term sister city programs.
)
Kinda sounds like “Globalism”..

Back to My lil Story,, We had “Chinese” “Visitors” looking at equipment & visiting Manufacturing facilities…
ONLY to find out they were Wearing “Sticky Shoes” to pick up the “Machined” Parts, AND the Stuff We processed them with… To analyze Later.. (perfecting their Steel Making skills)..
They, (security) caught one bloke trying to steal a “fully processed” Part of a piece of turbine fuel blade for the Space Shuttle! Yes we,,, “Processed” those too..
Hint, one a fit in your hand… (Or on your finger)… 😉 XD
Sundance is right.. They Cannot think “Outside the Box” due to their “conditioning” for years…

I love your story. I have war wounds as well…down thread. I meet so many people who have incurred shrapnel from this country, so my hope is that we go into this agreement eyes wide open…and fingers crossed behind our back…double cooties.

It appears that even though the Dragon breathes fire and has nuclear teeth it has a troubling weakness that it can no longer hide! There is no one in the world that likes communism except those that force it on others. With its vulnerable underbelly now exposed to (Donald the dragon slayer) and his band of hearty men what chance do small Dragons have Soon The Donald will be taking them for house pets.
I was really wondering why China was being so easy to handle for the president. The Dragon cannot count on its slaves to relight its waning fire! It would appear that Dragons around the world can only exist at the pleasure of (Donald)- the dragon slayer) It’s no wonder that the Chinese were so easy for him to handle; Trump is the grand master at thinking outside the box! Folks- I’m sure glad he’s on our side!
In my opinion Donald Trump will not only make America greater than it has ever been, but with a little help he can do it globally. The problem with the past is that we have had Fake people
who did not want America to prosper doing our job. They should all be held accountable to the American people. MAGA God bless our President. And a pox on the houses all traitors,

If you have the time, interest or inclination below is a link to Pres Xi’s full speech (in English) on the OBOR at the opening of the forum. A gentle warning; you may get sleepy before you get to the meat of the matter.

One bit of quibble (and since I’ve actually taught them, I think I can speak from some experience):
The Chinese students are not really that much better academically. It appears so, because generally we do see their better students. Even these students have some significant difficulties at our colleges. While they are very hard working, and some are brilliant (but these students are atypical in that they can think outside the box and will do their own work, in short they act more like Americans), many of the Chinese students are only good at very specialized areas and then only at rote learning — put them in a class that isn’t in their major, or where they have to apply an holistic approach, and they have real struggles. A lot of them do a lot of cheating too — this is a fairly big problem with most of the international students; they don’t do their own work often, sometimes never.
And they don’t cope with major setbacks: if they fail at something they often quit; most of the time it is all about failure avoidance. You can’t innovate unless you are willing and able to fail.
I will say that the Chinese recognize they have a problem with it — but they think the problem has to do with the universities, not their own way of thinking, and so it doesn’t seem to be getting much better in the last 20 years that I have had them in my classrooms.

“Chenggang Xu, a professor of economics at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, said it helps to think of OBOR as a “philosophy” or “party line,” rather than anything concrete.”

This is rich. When I worked on the Great Wall Hotel in Beijing, our firm had to create concrete factories for the Chinese International Travel Service because the Chinese forgot how to make concrete…something they invented. Oh, prior to communism.

And then there is this…

“Jörg Wuttke of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China, warned this week the initiative has increasingly “been hijacked by Chinese companies, which have used it as an excuse to evade capital controls, smuggling money out of the country by disguising it as international investments and partnerships.”

This is the Chinese mindset I know. I forgot to say, that after our company built concrete factories for the project in 1982, they stole the concrete and built additional smaller hotels, using plans we had prepared for one small hotel in phase one to be built to support the consultants. Literally flipped the plans mirror image horizontally, thinking we wouldn’t notice?

The senior designer I was working for, was coming back from dinner in Beijing one night in a taxi cab, saw a concrete truck on the road and followed it to the secret site.

Irregardless of my inherent bias in favor of his Excellency… This clip gave me the impression that compared to other world leaders Trump gives the appearance of strength, confidence and steadyness. America is back at its rightful place as leader of the world.

So busy so cannot say much. Students literally turning up at the door on zero notice for revision classes because “It’s my exam tomorrow.” Wife and I are on call and… exhausted.
However, to understand China AT ALL you must understand Confucianism. Indeed, to understand East Asia you must understand Confucianism. It is and has been the dominant ideology across China, Japan, Korea and surrounding areas.
Confucianism is a strict feudal system system that enforces unquestioning loyalty and conformity. It actively (and effectively) punishes innovation or creative thinking. Conformity to established methods is a major part of Confucianism which seeks to maintain social order. And Order is seen as compliance, conformity and obedience.
Chinese Communism today is actually more Confucian than Communist.
Anyway, I work day in and day out with the Confucian thinking Chinese and innovation and creative thinking are actively crushed by Chinese culture. Fortunately, my students are also influenced by Christianity which helps break the programming. But they are aware of the pressures on them to conform and to operate as an unthinking worker bee which, basically, is what Confucianism expects and ‘rewards.’ Furthermore, because Confucianism is an entrenched Feudal system it is a completely top down system in every aspect of social interaction. In fact, Xi knows this and knows that Confucianism keeps him in power. So as well as trying to crush the Christians he has been actively pushing Confucianism as the natural religion of the country.
Until Christianity really takes a hold of the culture China is not going to be creative or innovative.
No time for more. Just been booked out for another last minute revision class!

Sundance is correct. I’ve done business in China since 2003. To get them to think creatively, question authority, speak up, think outside the box, build a better mousetrap………. is almost impossible and not in their DNA.
China’ dependence on raw materials is clear in everything they do and Chinese presence/influence in Middle East, Africa, Cuba, South America, is troubling.

The CN&N article, read after your explainer above, made one literally lol.

It would seem China is trying to replicate the U.S.’s Marshall Plan, which is intended to replace the U.S. with China as the world’s hedgemonic superpower.
China is therefore reproducing all the mistakes made by the U.S., which resulted in all our workers having no jobs.

China is too dumb to realize that the U.S. is still here. We already know the major flaws and weaknesses in China’s obvious plan. The U.S. already knows how to counter the Chinese efforts. And no one, not even our own wannabe politboro, knows what is inside Our POTUS’s head. Thank goodness we do. We are just like Our POTUS (don’t tell anyone, pls).

From the CN&N article –
OBOR is “more like a diplomatic effort for China to win friends and influence people, rather than a strictly economic program” and “a massive expansion of Chinese imperial power.” Lol. Been there, done that.